Transcripts For FOXNEWSW Americas Newsroom With Bill Hemmer And Sandra Smith 20190517

Sandra good morning. So much news to get to with the big interview with the attorney general. His first interview since joining the Trump Administration and first interview since the Mueller Report saga unfolded. One of the big things he told you in that sfwir view is that he is still trying to wrap his head around what went down during the origins of the russia probe, bill. Bill exactly right about that. You get a sense as to where he is going. This is in the very early stages now. You have a federal prosecutor on the case for weeks. Think back about the hearing back in april. Thats where we began the discussion of this part of this interview about where he is now in trying to understand what went down in 2016. Lets start there. I remember at the hearing about a month ago you said youre trying to get your head around everything. What are you trying to figure out . Find out exactly what happened is the first step and trying to get our arms around that getting all the relevant information from the various agencies and starting to talk to some of the people that have information. The thing that is interesting about this is that this was handled in a very senior level of these departments. It wasnt handled in the ordinary way that investigations or Counter Intelligence activities are conducted. It was sort of an ad hoc small group. Most of these people are no longer with the f. B. I. Or the c. I. A. Or the other agencies involved. Bill this appears to run deep. Why is it so hard to figure out . There are two things here. One, no one has really looked at it. I think there is a misconception out there that we know a lot about what happened. The fact of the matter is bob mueller did not look at the governments activities. He was looking at whether or not the Trump Campaign had conspired with the russians. He was not going back and looking at the Counter Intelligence program. And we have a number of investigations underway that touch upon it. The main one being the office of Inspector General thats looking at the fisa warrants. But as far as im aware, no one. Bill you came into this job and started asking questions. Did you get any answers . I thought when i came in from the outside that all the questions that i had and many other people had that would be readily answered once i got in. But i havent found that to be the case. Bill you also said back in april you thought there was spying going on in the Trump Campaign. When do you think that started . Im not going to speculate when it started. Well find out when it started. Bill it has been said it was july of 2016. Does that sound right to you . I dont want to speculate. What i will say is ive been trying to get answers to questions and i found that a lot of the answers have been inadequate and i have also found that some of the explanations ive gotten dont hang together. In a sense i have more questions today than i did when i first started. Bill some of what things dont hang together . Some of the explanations of what occurred. Bill why does that matter . Well, because i think people have to find out what the government was doing during that period. If were worried about foreign influence for the very same reason we should be worried about whether government officials abused their power and put their thumb on the scale. And so im not saying that happened. But im saying that we have to look at that. Bill can you say when bob mueller knew there was no collusion with russia . No, i couldnt say that. Bill no date given . No, i couldnt say when he knew. Bill that is just the first part of what we wanted to share with our viewers so far today. There were two things that impressed me the most about where the story is now. Thats this. We now have a roadmap for where bill barr is going in the investigation of the Counter Intelligence operation. The second point is democrats are hot on his tail for countless reasons back in washington, d. C. I dont get the sense much that he cares much for that. He stands by every decision he has made as the attorney general thus far and by the way, the reason he came here was to express the level of support the u. S. Government has to work with Law Enforcement here in el salvador and crack down on criminal gangs like m. S. 13. We went to a jail yesterday to conduct this interview. 30 minutes west of the capital city of san salvador and walked through jail cells with him with members of ms13 behind bars. A stunning sight to see. You can imagine how hot and sweaty it is in a prison cell like that in the middle of the day. He wanted to be here and make sure they know that the United States will continue to help them crack down on these criminal elements which has been a big problem here. There is progress on that that we can share with you a bit later in the program, too. They believe over the past three years they have been able to cut down the problems by 50 . The killings, stabbings, shootings in el salvador. For these northern triangle countries, guatemala, honduras, el salvador is a big part of the overhaul of the immigration plan. Back to you guys in new york. Sandra great stuff from down there. We look forward from seeing more from that interview in the moment. Lets bring in congressman devin nunes Ranking Member of the house intelligence committee. You have been listening to this interview that just happened in el salvador with the attorney general. What really catches you is what he just said about how he has gotten more questions now as the attorney general than when he first started. Saying that the questions he has asked so far he feels the answers he has received have been inadequate. I think youre right. Thats very similar to the House Republican investigation. As we continue to pull back pieces of the onion more and more things started to fall out that we had to follow up on. Even today we continue to be in need of more answers, right . Just in the last few days we found out that there are emails that involve Christopher Steele that were sitting at the f. B. I. , at the state department, at the department of justice that were not only not given to congress. I think every american knows out there that congress ran an investigation. Anything involving Christopher Steele, the spy that the Clinton Campaign ultimately hired, should have been given to congress. Now, how did we just find out about this in the last few days . I can go on and on and take up your whole show with questions that i have. I think what youre seeing is youre seeing a real attorney general, a professional, and someone who is not going to take that poisonous garbage that the democrats and Clinton Campaign started and irresponsible people in congress and the media continue to put out there and poison people. Sandra well see what the investigation turns up. Meanwhile you did not see the attorney general shy away from that word spying which we know was a point of contention and a point of criticism for Many Democrats when he testified on capitol hill. Sandra, its ridiculous. Every american out there knows what spying is. This is all about narrative building by the left to cover up what they did and you have accomplices in the media. This is foolishness. I think thats what you are seeing the attorney general do is like look, i was a citizen out there on the street like everybody else. Im back and i know what a spy is. He used to work at the c. I. A. For god sakes. Ive never seen something so ridiculous where the media is culpable for this nonsense. Anybody in the media ought to be laughing at these politicians who are talking about how oh my god, theyre calling it spying. Its a joke. Its a joke. Sandra there was the who as far as questions answered by bill barr in that interview in talking about him digging into exactly what happened at the origins of this russia probe. He said this was handled at very senior levels. He made that point very clear at the f. B. I. , c. I. A. , and other agencies that were involved. Referencing an ad hoc small group of people, many of who are not even at the agencies anymore. Let me get to the heart of this problem as i think the American People are just starting to learn what this means. When you run a Counter Intelligence investigation, its very different than a criminal investigation. Counter intelligence is almost always used to go after foreigners that are trying to do harm to americans or our allies. So its very rare to go after an american using Counter Intelligence. It has to be something really, really high level possibly involving someone who is leaking to our adversaries. In this case, we have yet bill asked the question to the attorney general about what did bob mueller know and when did he know there was no collusion. Bob mueller knew the day that he walked in the door there was no evidence of the Trump Campaign colluding with russians. Think about it. We spent tens of billions of dollars collecting emails, phone calls, all the things that people know that we have the capability to do. We have human sandra i dont think that he has stated that publicly. I dont know what evidence you have with that. No, what im saying is that mueller the attorney general didnt answer that question but what im able to answer that because we looked at all the work. We looked at all the intelligence. Weve known for our report came out a year ago. Not only is there zero evidence of the Trump Campaign colluding with russians period. Sandra to be clear that interview when bill asked the attorney generals answer was that he could not say at what point Robert Mueller made that determination. Finally. Right. Thats my point. I just wanted to make sure that i answered it for the American People and thats why the attorney general is doing a good job here and not jumping to any conclusions. Sandra he ended that portion of the interview just there telling the American People why we should all be concerned. He made the point even democrats say we need to get to the bottom of foreign interference in these elections and he finished with the point well, we should be concerned then about our own government officials interference in our elections. Final thoughts this morning. Thats the point of the Counter Intelligence investigation that American People need to understand. It is only done by very few people and very invasive and there are very few people in congress that can look over this and i think why the attorney general is trying to make that point that we need these tools. We need these Counter Intelligence tools but they cant be turned against American People but for sure shouldnt be involved in politics. If you want to go after a Political Campaign go after that campaign using criminal statutes and a grand jury and a warrant. Sandra a big show this morning with the big interview. Appreciate your time this morning. Thank you. Meanwhile, one of attorney general barrs Top Priorities on his visit to el salvador the fight against ms13. It is a Great Partnership we have with them and its helping us in the United States because ms13 gang members that we can get down here are not going to be coming up to the United States. While here in the states President Trump unveils his new immigration plan. Well tell you how that is being received on capitol hill and new fox polling on 2020. How President Trump would do against three Top Democrats including former v. P. Joe biden. Senior Trump Campaign advisor lara trump here to respond. Next the attorney general reflects on one of the most controversial aspects of the Mueller Report. Why the special did not make a decision on obstruction of justice. Bill he came back with no recommendation on that obstruction charge. That surprised you. There was a moment, my son i believe was about four, where he actually asked me mommy whats wrong with your teeth . If i wouldve known that i was gonna be 50 times happier. I wouldve gone into aspen dental much sooner. It was a very life changing experience. And it felt like i was me again. Thats when i realized i hadnt been for three years. At aspen dental were all about yes. Like yes to flexible hours and payment options. Yes to free exam and xrays for new patients without insurance. And yes whenever youre ready to get started, we are too. Call now at 1800aspendental. What do all these people have in common, limu . Oug [ paper rustling ] exactly, nothing. Theyre completely different people, thats why they need customized Car Insurance from liberty mutual. Theyll only pay for what they need [ gargling ] [ coins hitting the desk ] yes, and they could save a ton. Youve done it again, limu. Only pay for what you need. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. You see clear skin. Cosentyx can help people with moderate to Severe Plaque Psoriasis find clear skin that can last. Dont use if youre allergic to cosentyx. Before starting, get checked for tuberculosis. An increased risk of infections and lowered ability to fight them may occur. Tell your doctor about an infection or symptoms, if your inflammatory bowel disease symptoms develop or worsen, or if youve had a vaccine or plan to. Serious allergic reactions may occur. How sexy are these elbows . Ask your dermatologist about cosentyx. You might or joints. Hing for your heart. But do you take something for your brain. With an ingredient originally discovered in jellyfish, prevagen has been shown in Clinical Trials to improve shortterm memory. Prevagen. Healthier brain. Better life. The inlaws have moved in with us. And our Adult Children are here. So we save by using tide. Which means we use less. Three generations of clothes cleaned in one wash. Anybody seen my pants . 1 stain and odor fighter, 1 trusted. Its got to be tide. Bill you mentioned bob mueller a few moments ago. Were you surprised that he came back with no recommendation on that obstruction charge, did that surprise you . Yes. Bill how come . The function of a prosecutor is to make a call one way or the other. Bill did you ask him why . We discussed it. Bill what did he say . I already said we met on march 5 before he delivered the report and he gave an explanation for it. It is pretty much reflected in the report. Jon attorney general william barr saying he was surprised the special counsel did not make a decision on obstruction of justice. Lets bring in ian prior, former department of justice director of public affairs, Vice President at Mercury Public Affairs as well. When you hear the attorney general saying he was surprised that no obstruction of justice recommendation came from the Mueller Report, read between the lines for us. What does that say to you . I can tell you i agree. I was surprised when i read that part two of the Mueller Report it looked to me the answer to a law school exam. Ive heard that term talked about a little bit. It is almost a little bit like a recitation of what happened with comey and the Hillary Clinton investigation. We have this laundry list of facts and evidence laid out in a report although that wasnt quite a case with comey. He did a press conference. At the end of the day you dont have an indictment or a conclusion. Ultimately thats not a prosecutors job. I think what you saw from barr was with somebody that probably was a little bit perturbed that mueller didnt come to a conclusion on that and pass the hot potato over to the attorney general. Jon so the attorney general ultimately decides with the help of Rod Rosenstein there is no reason to charge obstruction of justice and democrats in congress seem furious. Is that to be expected and appropriate . If you go back to the Mueller Report there is a piece nobody is focusing on. Mueller says you have to look to corrupt intent. Is there corrupt intent . If youre trying to obstruct an investigation to protect your family or business or yourself personally. But it is not corrupt intent if what you are trying to do is allow yourself to execute the powers of the presidency to put forth your policies and if he believed as the president did that this investigation there was nothing to it and it turned out there wasnt, thats not corrupt intent. What barr did is what any prosecutor does. Looked at the evidence, looked at the law, and he made a decision. Now, you have democrats out there saying he shouldnt have done that. He is acting like the president s lawyer. You could say that about any prosecutor that makes a decision whether or not to charge a defendant. Are they acting like a defendants lawyer because they go through the evidence and facts and ultimately make a decision not to charge . Of course not. Thats their job. Jon there are three other investigations of what led up to the Mueller Report and the Russia Collusion Investigation and so forth. One of them from the Inspector Generals office. Bill asked the attorney general about that. Listen. Bill when will we see the i. G. Report . When its finished. Bill is it finished . No. Jon what are you expecting from the Inspector General . He is somewhat limited in his jurisdiction. He can bring in current employees from the f. B. I. And department of justice and people want to volunteer to talk to him he can. He wont go into the broader Intelligence Community which is really where i think this thing is going and what john durham will be looking at. What does the i. C. Have to do with it . Whats brennans role and comey . It is important to look at it. Were laws violated . Were department protocols violated . I suspect at some level is yes to one of those. Even in the unlikely event that everybody did this by the book maybe its time we look at the book and make some edits. For the past four years the f. B. I. And department of justice have been dominated by investigations into two president ial campaigns. Is the f. B. I. And department of justice being used by campaigns, by the political process to play a part in the election of our leaders. We really need to look at that and are things we can do differently to protect against that in the future. Jon ive heard complaints from inside the department all the russia and comey stuff for lack of a better term is preventing some of the real work, some of the Effective Work of the department of justice from getting out. Absolutely. Sandra more to get to this morning. Breaking news on some of our other big stories today. President trump sounding off on growing tensions with iran. Are we going to war with iran . President trump i hope not. Sandra the u. S. Has accused iran to plot jon the Training Mission takes a terrifying turn when a jet crashes into a warehouse. What might have caused this crash next. D gliding and steami. Eating dip. Memorial day is coming. So book a place to stay and be a booker at booking. Com. So book a place to stay were finally back out in our yard, but so are they. Scotts turf builder triple action. It kills weeds, prevents crabgrass and feeds so grass can thrive, guaranteed. Our backyard is back. This is a scotts yard. Wake up theres a lot that needs to get done today. Small things. Big things. Too hard to do alone things. Day after day, you need to get it all done. And here to listen and help you through it all is bank of america. With the expertise and knowhow you need to reach that blissful state of doneness. So lets get after it. Everything is all right what would you like the power to do . ® all right what would you like the power to do . ® its toughcold turkey. King so chantix can help you quit slow turkey. Along with support, chantix is proven to help you quit. With chantix you can keep smoking at first and ease into quitting so when the day arrives, youll be more ready to kiss cigarettes goodbye. When you try to quit smoking, with or without chantix, you may have nicotine withdrawal symptoms. Stop chantix and get help right away if you have changes in behavior or thinking, aggression, hostility, depressed mood, suicidal thoughts or actions, seizures, new or worse heart or blood vessel problems, sleepwalking, or lifethreatening allergic and skin reactions. Decrease alcohol use. Use caution driving or operating machinery. Tell your doctor if youve had Mental Health problems. The most common side effect is nausea. Talk to your doctor about chantix. The wifi that set just raised the bar again. Introducing xfinity xfi advantage. It comes with everything you love about xfi. The best speed, coverage and control. But it doesnt stop there, you also get enhanced network security, safer browsing, and more. Plus it helps to optimize your networks performance. Giving you the best coverage from attic to basement. So you can focus on streaming your favorites. Not finding a signal. Make the best wifi even better,with xfi advantage. Simple, easy, awesome. Jon f16 Fighter Jet Crashes into a warehouse east of los angeles. The pilot safely ejecting just before impact. The National Guard plane was attempt pg to land at a nearby base when it experienced hydraulic failure. Falling debris left a dozen people on the ground with minor injuries. Sandra President Trump saying he does not want war with iran amid escalating tensions between the two countries. The u. S. Has stationed warships in the arabian sea. Satellite photos have shown cruise missiles on iranian vessels. Any action this Administration Takes will be thoughtful, will look through and be in consultation with the house and senate. It is disgraceful and despicable that were on the verge of war and the American People are given this kind of confused and chaotic picture of what the situation is on the ground. Were sending the signal loud and clear. This is important. Were not just going to take action against hezbollah or your other proxies. Well hold you, iran, responsible. Sandra rich edson is live at the white house for us this morning. Good morning. Good morning. President trump is in new york and returning in a few hours to washington where senior officials are stressing that despite these precautions that the pentagon and state department are taking the United States does not want a war with iran. We do have more comments out of iran. Senior officials and military officials saying even our short range missiles can easily reach u. S. Warships in the gulf. America cannot afford the costs of a new war and the country is in a bad situation in terms of manpower and social conditions. The United States has deployed a Carrier Strike group and bombers to the persian gulf and evacuated Embassy Staff in iraq. Members of Congress Want to know the specific of the intelligence driving the decisions and demanded formal briefings. The administration briefed congressional leaders yesterday and next week for the full house and senates. Across the globe. Spent yesterday in tokyo trying to save the Iran Nuclear Deal and help revive his countrys economy debilitated from american sanctions. Iran wants help from other countries circumventing the sanctions that the United States restored when it withdrew from the iranian deal next year. If not they said they would start producing enriched aour ainiam. The u. S. Has sanctioned its top exports and officials throughout the government. The regional adversary saudi arabia said drones attacked a saudi oil pipeline. They say it originated in iran and did cause a fire and limited damage. Sandra. Sandra rich edson at the white house. Thanks. Jon after weeks of legal wrangling a judge is set to truly whether to appoint a special prosecutor in the Jussie Smollett case. Sandra President Trumps new meritbased immigration plan met with sharp criticism from democrats. Some are calling the president s proposal a 2020 Campaign Pitch. Well get reaction from lara trump this morning. She joins us straight ahead. Weve only heard titles like merit which is nonmerit. It means merit in the eyes of donald trump. When you have nausea, heartburn, indigestion, upset stomach, diarrhea. Girl, pepto ultra coating will treat your stomach right. Nausea, heartburn, indigestion, upset stomach, diarrhea. Try pepto with ultra coating. Car vending machines and buying a car 100 online. Vented now weve created a brand new way for you to sell your car. Whether its a year old or a few years old, we want to buy your car. So go to carvana and enter your license plate, answer a few questions, and our technowizardry calculates your cars value and gives you a real offer in seconds. When youre ready, well come to you, pay you on the spot, and pick up your car. Thats it. So ditch the old way of selling your car, and say hello to the new way at carvana. Jon breaking news on the fight on the ms13 gang. Bill hemmer traveled with the attorney general to el salvador in an effort to keep gang members off u. S. Soil. One of the big challenges we face right now in Law Enforcement is the humanitarian on the border. A lot of that is driven by families coming up from Central America. A related to factor to that is the Gang Violence prevalent in the three triangle countries. Ms13, the 18th street gang. So the Justice Department has a very Robust Program down here to help the governments attack this drug problem. Were working very closely with them. Bill have you seeing success . A lot of success. The murder rate has dropped in half here in el salvador in the last three years. At in three years in the northern triangle weve been able to charge over 7,000 members of ms13 and the 18th street gang. It is a Great Partnership we have with them and it is helping us in the United States because ms13 gang members that we can get down here are not going to be coming up to the United States. And also the intelligence we gather here, because we have a big program here to support their wiretapping and other kinds of intelligence down here, we can use that to prosecute ms13 members in the United States. For example, last august we prosecuted six ms13 members in new jersey using intelligence that was gathered down here. Jon good news from the attorney general. Much more on the fight against ms13 in the next hour when we speak with a u. S. Attorney. Jon if adopted, our plan will transform americas immigration system. The biggest change we make is to increase the proportion of highly skilled immigration from 12 to 57 . Future immigrants will be required to learn english and to pass a civics exam. Were presenting a clear contrast. Democrats are proposing open borders, lower wages and frankly lawless chaos. We are proposing an immigration plan that puts the jobs, wages and safety of American Workers first. Sandra that was President Trump unveiling a plan to overhaul our immigration system. Centered on Border Security and meritbased system. The proposal drawing criticism from democrats. Im joined by lara trump, Senior Advisor to the trump 2020 campaign. Is this a real solution or is this a 2020 Campaign Pitch . The president has been talking about fixing our broken immigration system for so long and i think the whole point of what he is saying is we want to give people coming into our country, we want to give legal immigrants the best chance possible. It is good for our country to have people who are skilled workers or have certain education that will benefit our country but for them, too. Why would we want people to come here when they arent sure if they can succeed . Taxes are overtaxed when it comes to the welfare system but lets give these people the best chance possible to succeed in our own country. Sandra it didnt stop nancy pelosi from some very open criticism following the president s proposal yesterday. Here is the speaker. I want to just Say Something about the word that they use merit. It is really a condescending word. Are they saying family is without merit . Are they saying most of the people that come to the United States in the history of our country are without merit because they dont have an engineering degree . Sandra she called it condescending at merit and nonmerit. Merit in the eyes of donald trump she said. Without democrats what can get done . I think the president s plan hopefully will be implemented after we take back the house in 2020. I would love to see the democrats get on board with this beforehand but we know they likely wont. I disagree with her assessment there. There are so many countries around the world that used a meritbased system to allow people to come into that your country. Canada and australia use that system and it works very well for them. Nancy is not going to like it but if not now, after the 2020 election. Sandra lets talk 2020. Are you knee deep in all this right now. This is some of the latest fox news polling on where things stand with the current democrats that are running for president. Joe biden leading by double digits with the competition in his own party. Bernie sanders at 17 . Biden leading at 35 there. Warren drops down to the Single Digits at 9 . Pete buttigieg and others follow. Joe biden the clear leader as it stands today. I dont find that surprising. He was the last person to get in the race and he has a boost from that. He was our Vice President and has great name recognition with people. But you know what . Out of all of these people he might be one that i think independents and more moderate democrats can get behind. A lot of people in this country are going to have a hard time getting behind someone like Bernie Sanders or someone who is running on a more far left platform like socialism. So maybe that speaks to the fact he might be doing something right in the eyes of democrats. Sandra in a headtohead matchup here is where things stand. Biden, sanders, warren all beating donald trump if the election were held today. So does trump 2020 see joe biden as the biggest threat, Bernie Sanders also in that poll would beat the president and Elizabeth Warren as well. I say this all the time. None of these people like a huge threat to me. Reality is the people in this country in 2016 chose donald trump who had never been in politics before who they really didnt know how he would perform to be our president and he has performed extraordinarily well and delivered on all the promises he made to the people of this country and you see it in evidence every day with our economy, the unemployment numbers. So he has real results to show here. Where all these other people, even joe biden, had eight years under the Obama Administration to do a lot of great things for this country and we didnt really see that. So we still maintain we feel very comfortable no matter who the candidate. It looks like it could be biden or sanders. Sandra it is still early. Really interesting question posed to those that were polled about what democrats prioritize as far as running against this president . The biggest priority for them is can the person that they support beat donald trump. It is the clear winner in this poll. 73 put their priority importance in that issue ahead of high ethical standards, track records, new ideas. Thats the most important factor. Thats sad. Not just beat donald trump. It speaks to the fact there are still a lot of people out there that are very upset that Hillary Clinton didnt win in 2016. Maybe sandra whats the message for the 2020 Trump Campaign now . Our message is look at your life. Is it better now and will it be better in 2020 than before it was before Donald Trump Took Office . I think a lot of people will say it is. Jon the attorney general william barr not mincing words about all the heat he is taking from Many Democrats. Bill nancy pelosi believes you lied under oath. What do you think of that charge . I think its a laughable charge. Jon whats the next move for Speaker Pelosi and House Democrats . Well hear from democratic congressman ro khanna next. Your. I didnt know geico could helps with homeowners insurance. Yep, theyve been doing it for years. What are you doing . Big steve . Thanks, man. There he is. Get to know geico and see how much you could save on homeowners and renters insurance. This ijust listen. vo theres so much we want to show her. We needed a car that would last long enough to see it all. avo subaru outback. Ninety eight percent are still on the road after 10 years. Come on mom, lets go born to be wild moves like these need pampers cruisers 360 fit with an ultrastretchy waistband and a 360 fit that adapts to every wild move plus up to 12 hours of protection so anything your wild child does. Cruisers can too our best ever fit is new cruisers 360 fit born to be wild you dont see psoriasis. You see clear skin. You see me. But if you saw me before cosentyx. I was covered. It was awful. But i didnt give up. I kept fighting. I got clear skin with cosentyx. 3 years and counting. Clear skin can last. See if cosentyx could make a difference for you. Cosentyx is proven to help people with moderate to Severe Plaque Psoriasis find clear skin that can last. Dont use if youre allergic to cosentyx. Before starting cosentyx, you should be checked for tuberculosis. An increased risk of infections and lowered ability to fight them may occur. Tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms. Or if you have received a vaccine or plan to. If you have inflammatory bowel disease, tell your doctor if symptoms develop or worsen. Serious allergic reactions may occur. See me now. Im still clear. How sexy are these elbows . Get clear skin that can last. Ask your dermatologist about cosentyx. Sandra the Missouri House of refptives lawmakers set to debate legislation today after the alabama governor signed a controversial bill into law earlier this week banning nearly all abortions if her state. That bill could set up a challenge to roe versus wade. Kentucky, mississippi, ohio and georgia have all approved bans on abortion once a heartbeat is detected. Nancy pelosi believes you lied under oath. What do you think of that charge . I think its a laughable charge and i think its largely being made to try to discredit me partly because they may be concerned about the outcome of a review of what happened during the election. But obviously you can look at the face of my testimony and see on its face there is nothing inaccurate about it. Jon thats attorney general william barr and fox news exclusive interview dismissing some criticism from democrats over his handling of the Mueller Report saying the backlash is all political after House Democrats on the judiciary voted to hold barr in contempt. What happens next . Lets bring in House Oversight and Governmental Reform Committee member ro khanna. Thank you for being here. You heard the attorney general say that there is an effort underway among your party in congress to discredit him. What is your response . I say lets look at the facts and then your viewers can decide. On march 27th bob mueller sent a letter to the attorney general saying that he had issued a summary that was out of context, that didnt capture the full context of the report. One week later he was before the house and senate and he was asked did bob mueller or anyone on his team have any concerns about your summaries . He said no. Not to my awareness. My view is that is lying. Thats our concern. Jon its also true he didnt have to release the report. The report is given to the attorney general and it is his decision whether or not to release it. It is his decision. I think he should have released it earlier. But my concern is why is he misrepresenting what he did . Why didnt he just say yes, bob mueller had concerns. I think this whole thing can get answered if bob mueller comes to congress, testifies, explains what he found and then we can move on and do things like infrastructure and prescription drugs. Jon the attorney general was asked in this interview whether democrats in congress would try to make him a target. Listen to his exchange now with bill hemmer. Bill when you took this job did you think democrats would make you the target . Yes. Bill you were ready for that . Yes. I thought i was in a position where this kind of criticism really wouldnt bother me very much. Bill what about the charge of contempt that has already passed in committee that may go to the floor of the house . Holding you in contempt, what do you think of that . Its part of the usual political circus thats being played out. It doesnt surprise me. Bill you call it a circus. Do you feel threatened . No, i dont feel threatened. Jon he seems pretty unphased by everything going on in congress at this moment. Well look, he has a tough job but he has made his job much tougher. If he had just released the Mueller Report or if he had released the bob mueller summaries and hadnt usurped the process and tried to summarize it or been transparent with the American People we would be in a much better place. He has done a president a disservice. I think the president would have been much better off having the Mueller Report out there without bill barr trying to characterize. Jon the Mueller Report is out there and americans can make their own decision and he is not allowed under law to release it without redacting grand jury and other sensitive information. Two things. First the Mueller Report concluded that the russians interfered in our elections. Sweeping, systematic, bob mueller indicted 37 people on that account. And we should thank him and thank the f. B. I. For having this Counter Intelligence operation. So we need to be focused on what we can do to prevent it. The second thing is we do need some of those unredacted portions to be able to question don mcgahn and others, the attorney general can go to the court and help us get that as ken starr did during his investigation. Jon as you know the attorney general also has some concerns about how some of this russia investigation came to be. And he has tasked a very tough u. S. Attorney in connecticut with looking into how top leaders at the f. B. I. And the c. I. A. And others came to use the steele dossier and other documents to go after charges of russia collusion. What do you think about that investigation . Here is my concern with it. I have such great admiration and respect for those who serve in our f. B. I. , in our c. I. A. , in our military. They put their lives at stake to keep you and i and other people safe. And i resent the accusation that they are somehow politicized. Are there bad actors . Sure. When you have the head of the f. B. I. , Trump Administration official Christopher Wray saying it was a Counter Intelligence operation to keep american safe from foreign interference. Jim baker saying that, then we should listen to them and thank these agencies for the service they do for our country. Jon Christopher Wray has also changed the way the f. B. I. Conducts investigations saying it was wrong for the f. B. I. To conduct an investigation out of headquarters regarding the Trump Campaign. If there are changes that need to be made to make it better, lets look at that. But the fundamental investigation was not targeting the Trump Campaign. It was a Counter Intelligence operation, it wasnt based on the dossier, it was based on intelligence gathered from a foreign ambassador who had a conversation with papadopoulos and was concerned the russians were interfering. I want to make sure we prevent any interference whether its russia, china, iran and salute the efforts of our intelligence agencies to help keep american safe. Jon we all agree that keeping foreign well hear more from the attorney general. He seems to feel there was not necessarily grounds for much of what transpired. Last question. Where do democrats go from here . What we really want to do is pass an infrastructure bill. Speaker pelosi and Chuck Schumer are meeting with the president. I would love to see us invest in our roads, in our broadband and our bridges, airports and do something for the country. But were at the same time going to continue to ask to hear from mueller and others so we know the extent of the interference and the extent of the misconduct. Jon ro khanna, democrat from california, thank you. Sandra newly released Court Documents in the form of National Security advisor michael flynn. What they will reveal about who reached out to him after he agreed to cooperate with the special counsel. Jon boeing finishes a software fix for its max 737 jets grounded after two deadly crashes overseas. What is next in getting those jets back into service . , which most pills dont. , flonase helps block 6 key inflammatory substances. Most pills only block one. Flonase. With priceline, bundling our lowest prices on flights, hotels and rental cars means you spend less time planning and more time travelling. We like that by the way, these chairs are ours. Everyone is already sitting. By the way, these chairs are ours. It also has the highest growth in manufacturing jobs in the us. Its a competition for the talent. Employees need more than just a paycheck. You definitely want to take advantage of all the benefits you can get. 2 3 of employees said that the workplace is an important source for personal savings and protection solutions. The workplace should be a source of financial security. Keeping your people happy is what keeps your people. Thats Financial Wellness. Put your employees on a path to Financial Wellness with prudential. Sandra boeing said it has completed a software fix for its max 8 jets after the two deadly crashes. It is now up to the faa to allow those jets back into service. Dan springer following this for us live from seattle this morning. This time it wont just be up to the faa to give boeing the thumbsup. Due to the scope of the tragedies involving the 737 max boeing is taking the unusual step in bringing in regulators from p canada, china and European Union to sign off before the planes fly passengers again. Boeings president said were making clear and steady progress and are confident the 737 max with updated software will be one of the safest airplanes to fly. It intensified our commitment because lives depend on what we do. 737 max please are stang up at the Assembly Plant in washington they keep building them. The company says the software fix to the antistall system is done and tested more than 360 hours on 207 test flights. Right now regulators from the faa are submitting questions on that new software and once they and regulators from the other countries are satisfied, boeing will schedule certification test flight and once thats done will submittal the documents for final certification. The faa will be under intense scrutiny as it has taken a lot of heat for relying too much on boeing engineers and the questions kept coming during a hearing on capitol hill yesterday. The agencies acting administrator was grilled about why some key safety features were allowed to be optional. He says this time theyll get it right. As our work continues i want to offer this assurance. In the u. S. The 737 max will return to service only from the faas analysis of the facts and data indicate its safe to do so. It will take weeks to months before those planes fly again with passengers. Sandra thank you. Jon attorney general bill barr covering a lot of ground in an exclusive interview with fox news. More of his interview with bill hemmer including his thoughts on the steele dossier. A new fox poll shows joe biden with a big lead over other 2020 democrats. Newt gingrich says if they knew the real joe biden they wouldnt vote for him. The ateam weighs in on that at the top of the hour. Were family. Wed do anything for each other. But this time. Those bonds were definitely tested. Frog leg, for my baby brother dont frogs have like, two legs . So they should have two of these . Since im active duty and shes family, i was able to set my sister up with a sweet membership from navy federal. If you hold it closer, it looks bigger. Eat your food my big sis likes to make tiny food. And im okay with that. Navy federal credit union. Our members, are the mission. Who used expedia to book the hotel that led to the ride which took them to the place where they discovered that sometimes a little down time can lift you right up. Flights, hotels, cars, activities. Expedia. Everything you need to go. Todays Senior Living communities have never been better, with amazing amenities like movie theaters, exercise rooms and swimming pools, public cafes, bars and bistros even pet care services. And theres never been an easier way to get great advice. A place for mom is a free service that pairs you with a local advisor to help you sort through your options and find a perfect place. A place for mom. You know your family we know Senior Living. Together well make the right choice. Rheumatoid arthritis or Psoriatic Arthritis. When considering another treatment, ask about xeljanz xr, a oncedaily pill for adults with moderate to severe Rheumatoid Arthritis or active Psoriatic Arthritis for whom methotrexate did not work well enough. It can reduce pain, swelling, and significantly improve physical function. Xeljanz xr can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. Serious, sometimes fatal infections and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened. As have tears in the stomach or intestines, serious allergic reactions, low blood cell counts, higher liver tests and cholesterol levels. Dont start xeljanz xr if you have an infection. Your doctor should perform blood tests before and while taking xeljanz xr, and monitor certain liver tests. Tell your doctor if youve been somewhere fungal infections are common and if you have had tb, hepatitis b or c, or are prone to infections. Dont let another morning go by without asking your doctor about xeljanz xr. We want to look into the meeting and the leaking of information subsequent to that meeting. Bill was that meeting in new york city . Yes. Bill in trump tower . Yes. Bill what questions do you have about what happened that day . I wont get into that. We need to look at it. Bill can you tell us how advanced you are in understanding that meeting . Were in the stage of gathering all that information. If we go back in time in january of 2017 you are within that period before the president is sworn in. James comey is meeting at trump tower in new york city. Pulls the president aside. Briefs him on the dossier makes him aware theyre aware and james comey said he left the trump tower meeting. Went out to fifth avenue. Got into his black s. U. V. And transcribed the notes from his meeting. Hang onto that bit of information. Thats a bit of a sign or indicator as to what bill barr is looking at now. In the meantime you have democrats who again are hot on his tail for a number of issues. They believe he lied before congress. They believe he overlooked the obstruction suggestion that was in the Mueller Report. They believe that they can now hold him in contempt of congress and look for that perhaps in the month of june. Also they believe there was witness tampering. Specifically on that question as it relates to the former lawyer for the president , don mcgahn, when posed with that question whether or not he considered witness tampering once he got the Mueller Report bill barr explained his decision this way. Thats a misconception. He was not asked to change his testimony. That was a reaction to a press story in the New York Times that claimed that trump had told him to fire mueller. And trump im going by what the report said, im not arguing the case. But trump was mad at the word fire and claimed he never directed mcgahn to fire mueller. And in fact elsewhere the report does say that mcgahn was told by trump to talk to rosenstein to complain about conflicts of interest that mueller had and have mueller removed for conflicts of interest. There is a difference. If you remove someone for conflict of interest presumably someone else will be put in to continue the investigation. And what trump was being accused of in the New York Times was outright directing the firing of mueller. Bill there is another aspect of this, too. Democrats claim that bill barr held the Mueller Report back, put out his own principle conclusions first in order to spin the story in favor of the white house and president. I asked him specifically about that spinning. He said shooting right back to democrats saying they didnt have the opportunity to spin the story themselves. I just make one more point, sandra and jon, going back to the steele dossier. In his own words bill barr describes that dossier on its face that had a number of clear mistakes. So how is it used and which hands did it go, why was it approved . All of this again is part of that investigation. An investigation i will point out that could take a very long time. 12 months is not a short period of time for the way the Legal Process can work in the u. S. And with regard to the Inspector Generals report, remember two investigations currently underway under the purview of bill barr, the i. G. Report is not finished. He hasnt seen it. It is not ready to be made public. With regard to this investigation it could be sometime before the new federal prosecutor gets into the meat of what was going on in the Intelligence Community during the Obama Administration especially that period of time between election day 2016 and Inauguration Day the third week in january. Sandra and john. Sandra great stuff there, bill. More from el salvador and bill hemmer in that interview in a bit. Jon lets bring in the ateam. Juan williams is fox news political analyst cohost of the five. Ed Henry National correspondent for fox news y mccarthy former assistant u. S. Attorney. The attorney general first interview since taking the job. As a Law Enforcement officer, as a lawyer, what are you hearing him say that intrigues you . Its very interesting he has hoemd in on the january 6th meeting. Thats the meeting in trump tower. Now, important background to this meeting is the intelligence chiefs, the day before, briefed president obama on it and that was the meeting at which obama, as kind of attendant to the meeting, has a sit down with biden and susan rice on one side and then director of the f. B. I. Comey, sally yates, then the acting attorney general, and on the discussion on the menu for discussion is what information about russia can we share with the incoming team . So i think its very interesting that the next day comey goes up to trump tower with brennan, clapper, i think the head of the n. S. A. As well and they give the president elect, in addition to a summary of the intelligence assessment that russia interfered with the election, they also give him a very abbreviated briefing on the steele dossier. In fact, i think its almost incorrect to call it a briefing on the dossier because the sliver that trump is apparently told about is the salacious allegation about the prostitutes in the hotel in moscow. What comey doesnt say to him is oh, by the way, mr. President , since october weve been in the fisa court. We told the judge that your campaign was conspiring with putin to undermine the election. So we just wanted to jon we were survielg r veiling one of your advisors. Jon details on the meeting immediately leak. The day before the trump tower. What did obama know how the dossier was used. And remember another part of what andy is saying to continue bill hemmers fine reporting, which is a couple weeks later as the inaugural is about to happen on january 20th, i believe, there is an email that susan rice puts out for the record within their internal system that has come out in which she refers back to that earlier january meeting and says just to be clear we did everything by the book. Lets get this on the record on january 20th before he leaves. Thats the key. Bill barr is now trying to get to the bottom of was it done by the book, yes or no . John brennan and others have been out there a long time beating up of President Trump accusing him of treason and all these other things. Now what they did behind the scenes will finally come out. Sandra juan williams. To repeat what we just heard bill barr respond to bill when he said do you smell a rat in this situation . I dont know if i would describe it as that. The answers im getting are not sufficient. He says that multiple times in this interview that since he has taken this position, he has more questions now than when he started. I dont understand whats going on. Im listening to all of this and my thought is also now its not about spying. That he used before congress. Now he is talking about what happened on january 6th at a meeting and whether or not there was sufficient briefing of the incoming president by the Outgoing Team . To me this is sandra he has asked questions about that and the answers he finds are not sufficient. There are so many investigations already ongoing, the i. G. Investigation, another investigation. He added a third layer to that. It seems to me he says to bill hemmer i have no evidence that there was anything untoward going on. And what you have is you have the current f. B. I. Director chris wray, trump person, saying no, no evidence of that. James baker who was the f. B. I. Lawyer at the time has now repeatedly said nothing of this kind was going on. So you have people now locked in the weeds searching. Bill barr is not back pedaling on the idea of spying. Whats key here is that bill barr was telling bill hemmer the january time period during the transition is important. Among other things he is trying to figure out whether john brennan and others were covering their tracks in january. James comey, about what they did before the fisa court in october. The other thing is what they brief him on is the predicate for the fisa surveillance. So its all intermingled. The dossier is not the sole predicate. Juan, they wouldnt have mccabe you have papadopoulos saying the russians have information to share on hillary. You have Additional Information and you have repeated fisa requests to the court so the court would at some point have said this is insufficient for us to sandra final thoughts. If you mislead the court about whats in the dossier, which is evidently what they did the court wouldnt have reason. They didnt mislead anybody. We dont know. Lets get the facts. Sandra thank you. Another fox news alert this time involving michael flynn. Court documents revealing the extent of his cooperation with the special counsel. Showing the former National Security advisor gave information to Robert Mueller about possible obstruction. Catherine herridge has more on this from washington good morning. Good morning. Former National Security advisor mike flynn told the special counsel of multiple instances before and after his guilty plea where he got calls from individuals connected to the administration or congress quote that could have affected both his willingness to cooperate and the completeness of that cooperation. The defendant even provided a voicemail recording of one such communication. For context flynn had a joint Defense Agreement with the president s legal team. After he began cooperating with the special counsel there was an effort by the president s lawyers to protect privileged information. No obstruction charge was ever brought as a result of the special counsel investigation. Speaking exclusively to fox news the former National Security advisors brother is reacting to this key section of the Mueller Report that indicates mike flynn was already under f. B. I. Investigation during the 2016 president ial transition. General flynn went through 19 sessions with the special counsel approximately 90 hours of torturous interviews and this never came up the entire time. You would have thought it would have. And they would have maybe focused on that. It didnt come up at all. It was a surprise when the Mueller Report came out. Buried in volume 2 it states that investigators came across the ongoing f. B. I. Probe of flynn while investigating flynns discussion of sanctions with Russian Ambassador. Previously the f. B. I. Opened an investigation of flynn baisd on his relationship with the russian government. His contacts with kislyak became a key component. Because flynn was close to the president and no f. B. I. Briefing warning the campaign of an open investigation into flynn, a defensive braoefmgt it was previously thought flynns phone calls with the Russian Ambassador led to the f. B. I. Probe and now we know that wasnt the case. The special Counsel Office declined to answer our questions. Sandra thank you. Jon lets bring back the ateam juan williams, ed henry and andy mccarthy. You still have to wonder why he lied to the f. B. I. At all. Because if there was no collusion as it seems the Mueller Report found, general flynn and others should have just been open and here is my contact with the ambassador and moved on. Thats an unanswered question. We havent gotten the details from flynn. There are troubling questions for the Trump Administration about his cooperation now it appears general flynn with mueller about potential obstruction allegations and maybe thats part of the Mueller Report that we havent seen that was redacted. So what more is there . Again, i think as william barr has said lets follow the facts. Too much speculation about this. But in this case what else does general flynn know that we dont know today . Sandra what should we take away from all this . Two things. Number one i think we were aware this is some of go catherines excellent reporting on this earlier as well we were aware of the inquiry into flynn earlier than the kislyak conversations because of nuness Committee Report that came out some months back which talked about the fact that they were looking at flynn in connection not only with a trip that he had taken to moscow sometime back but also in connection with work that he had done for the turkish government as well. So that has been out there for a while. I think the other thing on the obstruction allegation, weve heard now that a district judge has said the government has to provide some of the information that they are referring to in some of the submissions that have been made in the case. Thats the part that i think is most troubling, although one of the things i would point out is while there was olc office of legal counsel, Justice Department guidance would not have allowed them to charge a sitting president , if the president if mueller found that the president had used emissaries to extend offers or otherwise obstruct the investigation or tried to tamper with witnesses, those people could have been indicted and we certainly know from muellers investigation he knows how to do an obstruction case. He brought a number of them. The key issue here is why were they looking at flynn prior to the conversation with kislyak . What you just heard from andy is the case. Not only had he made a trip to moscow. I think he is pictured sitting with putin at a table. And of course he had been he gave a speech or something. Im saying he is sitting at a table with vladimir putin. He is working with the turkish government and again involved in these International Affairs to the benefit potentially of russia in terms of the middle east issues. To my mind what you have here is a situation where there is russian interference, everybody has confirmed, and you have a legitimate inquiry into how they are, the russians, trying to influence this campaign to benefit donald trump and whether or not there are ties to individuals in the Trump Campaign. You will recall that even at the very end President Trump is saying to jim comey can you go light on mike flynn . These are some major flags, hard to ignore. May i just add, though. I dont want to tate general flynn. Our investigation that i understand was a Counter Intelligence investigation. That doesnt necessarily mean he was suspected of doing anything wrong and the standards for opening that kind of investigation are different from a criminal investigation. Sandra thank you, andy, ed and juan well see you in a bit. Up next the reason why attorney general bill barr is in el salvador taking the fight against ms13 to the source. Bill lets do wiretaps through surveillance . The whole gamut of Law Enforcement tools. Bill is it Getting Better . Sandra what is the answer to that question. Well have that for you coming up next. U. S. Attorney Zach Terwilliger weighs in on that. Jon back at home President Trump is unveiling his plan to overhaul the immigration system in this country. Will congress get on board . Our ateam will be back on that. President trump we will keep our communities safe, americans can have complete and total confidence that under this plan, the borders will finally be fully and totally secured. Sun care is self care. I used to not love wearing an spf just because i felt like it was so oily and greasy. But with Olay Regenerist whip spf 25, its so lightweight. I love it. Im busy philipps, and im fearless to face anything. Need money for your family, call newday usa. A newday va home loan lets you refinance your home and take out 54,000 dollars or more to pay credit card debt, or just put money in the bank. It even lowers your payments by over 600 dollars a month. As a veteran, youve earned the powerful va home loan benefit that lets you refinance up to 100 percent of your homes value. We all know some of lifes most important Financial Decisions are made right here at the kitchen table. So, if youre a veteran and need cash, calling newday usa could be one of the best decisions youll ever make. At newday usa veterans can buy a home with no down payment. At newday, your service is your down payment jon more of bill hemmers interview with bill barr, our nations top Law Enforcement officer visiting el salvador. One item getting a firsthand look at the source of ms13, the notorious Trans National gang that managed to cross the u. S. Southern border and plague so Many American cities. The a. G. Addressing the issue while visiting a prison on the ground. The worst kind of violence against Law Enforcement and they continue today. Bill today . Were helping them on here. Bill through wiretaps and through surveillance . Whats it through . The whole gamut of Law Enforcement tools. Bill is it Getting Better . The murder rate has dropped from 103 to 50. To put that in context its comparable to a very violent american city. Thats the nationwide number. In the u. S. Its 4 per 100,000. Jon you have ms13 members active in your part of the country. Thats absolutely right. Ms13 has been active in the Northern Virginia area for quite some time and i spent the first nine years of my legal career doing battle against them. So ive had a front row seat to their callousness and the tremendous violence that they can bring to a community. Jon ive talked to a suburban washington moms whose kids were walking home and wind up in the backyard of an ms13 house. A horrific organization known for hacking limbs off people that it doesnt like and cutting up bodies, that sort of thing. Is the attorney general right to try to bring the attention on the horrors of this gang . Yes, without question. Making his first trip to el salvador i believe sends a very strong message about our priorities, his priorities as far as reducing violent crime. As you just heard the attorney general mention, it is critical we have a Strong Partnership with the northern triangle countries. As we deport gang members at the end of their sentences or violation we have to have Law Enforcement sharing of information between ourselves and el salvador, honduras and guatemala. If we cant get a handle of what is happening with ms13 in the northern triangle the problem will be imported to the United States. I commend the attorney general making that trip and as he was talking about the information sharing, the use of the wiretaps that they have in el salvador as well as just us providing the latest and strongest investigative techniques by the training and support that we can provide and whats most troubling is ms13 now and in the recent history is targeting and ambushing Law Enforcement and assassinating them. Anything that happens in el salvador it is only a matter of time before that crosses the border into the United States. This being police week it is critical that we protect our women and men in blue. Sandra you are pushing the urgency here and the threat that this continues to pose to our residents here in the United States. At the very end of that clip you heard the attorney general answering the question bill asked is it Getting Better . He referenced specific numbers to quantify the improvement were seeing under this administration. The murder rate dropped from 103 per 100,000 to 50 per 100,000. That would be a significant improvement from where things were. Without question. The violence in the northern triangle has gone through peaks and valleys. I am really buoyed by hearing that information. However, my experience with ms13 is you can keep them down but if you let up a little bit the void will be filled by younger, more aggressive gang members. While that is tremendous work we should commend our Law Enforcement, we need to keep the pressure on and snuff out this gang. Jon the violence has been plaguing el salvador and northern triangle countries, that is coming here. The attorney general obviously is applauding efforts to eradicate ms13 but you are suggesting its like mushrooms. It is going to continue in this country . Well, i think we have made an incredible stride in our fight against ms13. In the last two years in the way this department of justice and this administration has focused on Trans National gangs in general, ms13 in particular weve created Awareness Regarding ms13. Four or five years ago i would talk to people in my own community and they would misstate, is it ms9 . Ms13 is a household name. Weve identified the problem, attacking it. Fishing with a spear, not a net and giving the tools in terms of additional prosecutorial resources, prioritization by Homeland Security and the department of justice and f. B. I. To go after these gang members. Thats what were doing and were having unprecedented success. My point is we have to keep up the pressure. We need to keep driving. In my experience if we dont do that, it will crop up again. Jon sounds like this Justice Department is doing that. Zach terwilliger from the Eastern District of virginia. Sandra a key Court Decision moments away in the Jussie Smollett investigation. There will be a special prosecutor to investigate how this case was handled . Jon brandnew fox polls showing former Vice President joe biden gaining momentum in the race for the white house but what about a headtohead matchup with the president . Our ateam is back next. For people who like winning will vote trump and the republicans and the people who want to suck their thumb and wine will be for joe biden and the democrats and well see how the American People define themselves over the next year and a half. Lease the 2019 es 350 for 379 a month for 36 months. Experience amazing at your lexus dealer. A migfrom aimovig. To be there for the good. And not so good. For the mundane. The aweinspiring. The heartracing. The heartbreaking. Thats what life is all about. Showing up. Unless migraine steals your chance to say. I am here. We aim to change that. Thats why we created. Aimovig. A preventive treatment for migraine in adults. One dose. Once a month. Aimovig is proven to reduce the number of monthly migraine days. For some, that number can be cut in half or more. The most common side effects are pain, redness or swelling at the injection site and constipation. It doesnt matter what each day brings. So long as you can say. I am here. Aim to be there more. Talk to your doctor about preventing migraine with aimovig. Sandra out of chicago a judge could decide whether to assign a special prosecutor to investigate how the cook county states attorney handled the Jussie Smollett case. Were live inside the cook county courthouse where something could happen any moment now, matt, good morning. Good morning, sandra. The hearing is scheduled to be underway right now. It is happening because after cook county states attorney kim foxxs office quietly dropped a 16 felony charges against act or Jussie Smollett. Sheila obrien filed a petition in the court saying an out of county special prosecutor should be assigned to investigate this entire thing. The public deserves the know the truth. Just last week in court chief judge was set to make a ruling on the special prosecutor but the chief judge reluctantly agreed to pass this case because he has a son who works for kim foxx. The case was passed on to veteran judge, a judge in charge this morning. Because the judge just got this case last week todays hearing could end up being a status update or perhaps the judge will move forward with assigning or denying a special prosecutor which would be a rather substantial development in the Jussie Smollett case. Justice Sheila Obrien filed a petition requesting the special prosecutor to investigate kim foxx. Obrien questioned foxxs motives and alleges she meddled in the smollett case even after foxx recused herself. She also asked kim foxx why she didnt comply with illinois law. When foxx claimed she recused herself a special prosecutor couldnt have been assigned. Justice obrien argues kim foxx admitted she was unable to fulfill her duties when she refused herself and when a special prosecutor should have been assigned from the start. Were about to watch this hearing to see what happens and well update you throughout the day. Sandra thank you, matt. Well get back to you as news warrants. Jon 23 democrats are now running for president and joe biden leaving his rivals in the dust leading the race for his partys nomination by a wide margin. The new fox news poll showing biden could beat President Trump in a hypothetical matchup in 2020. Were back with our ateam juan williams, Liz Harrington National Spokeswoman for the republican nation until committee and ed henry. Liz, are you worried . No, not at all. I think we should keep in mind that polls almost always oversample democrats and no offense to the fox poll but this poll as well polled 8 more democrats and when you ask 8 more you are likely to have the democrat winning by eight points or so. Joe biden has a record to run on as well. It is not a good one. He has been in the swamp for 44 years. He has never delivered for the middle class and meanwhile President Trump has only been there for just over two years and we see this great reemergence of the middle class in our country with the booming economy. Sandra what we can do is look at the polling that we have and this is some of the latest on joe biden on his way up. He is leading by double digits to Bernie Sanders 17 . He is way up there. 35 right now, juan. Elizabeth warren in Single Digits, Pete Buttigieg, Kamala Harris and beto orourke polling 4 . Three things stand out from the fox poll, sandra. One as you said biden leading big. His lead has increased monthtomonth. So he is gaining, which is a little bit of a surprise to me because initially you think name i. D. Familiarity, obama is Vice President in a democratic universe it could give him a leap out of the box. This has persisted. The second thing that stands out to me bernie losing, going down monthtomonth. So i dont know if that is if he is losing some of his sandra do you think biden is the best shot your party has . The question for democrats is who can beat trump. The consensus is its joe biden. The third thing that stands out to me is this, isnt it interesting that both Elizabeth Warren and Pete Buttigieg have edged up . They both moved up. Beto orourke the like have gone down. Jon were a long way from 2020. The story this week that made me chuckle. It said bidens internal strategy is to take the big lead and make it a general election early. Oh, Hillary Clinton had an that i dont think the democrats have learned that lesson. Sandra lara trump joipd us earlier on the program and i asked her about joe biden whether or not they see him as their biggest threat. Here is lara. None of the people feel like a huge threat to me. The people in this country in 2016 chose donald trump who had never been in politics before who they really didnt know how he would perform to be our president whereas all these other people, even joe biden, had eight years under the Obama Administration to do a lot of great things for this country and we didnt really see that. We feel very comfortable no matter who the candidate is. Sandra ed, the latest polling on that. If joe biden were in a headtohead matchup with donald trump right now it reveals that he would beat him by 11 points. Bernie sanders also would beat donald trump and Elizabeth Warren as well. Back to my point. I think well find dozens of polls saying Hillary Clinton would beat donald trump by five and and she did. Popular vote. The popular the polls tell you about the popular vote and donald trump won the white house. To jon scotts point it is early. I think joe biden has gotten out to this early lead largely on name i. D. As juan said but also because ive been talking to a lot of senior democrats in private who say lawmakers and others who say theyre very alarmed by aoc and Bernie Sanders and the others who have gotten the early attention and pushing socialist policies. It has gotten rank and file democrats very nervous that donald trump would beat someone hard left refly bad. Theyre coalescing behind biden. He says im not middle of the road. I want a revolution on climate change. He is adopting these farleft policies. I bet the plan will be socialist just like the Green New Deal is. Sandra always a pleasure. Thank you, have a happy weekend. The white house putting the brakes on the high speed rail train in california. Why the Trump Administration says the golden state did not hold up its end of the deal. Jon chicago is the first major city to have a netflix tax. How does it work and could it be coming to your town next . Whip out the spf cause its memorial day weekend and bookers are out here skipping and gliding and steaming and. Eating dip. Memorial day is coming. So book a place to stay and be a booker at booking. Com. My dbut now, i take used tometamucil every day. Sh so book a place to stay it traps and removes the waste that weighs me down, so i feel lighter. Try metamucil, and begin to feel what lighter feels like. If you have a garden you know, weeds are lowdown little scoundrels. With roundup sure shot wand you dont need to stoop to their level. Draw the line. The sure shot wand extends with a protective shield to pinpoint those pesky bedfellows. It lets you kill whats bad right down to the root while comfortably guarding the good. Draw the line with the roundup sure shot wand. Roundup brand. Trusted for over 40 years. Idbecause i know there t to adare so many of youterans, who have served our country honorably. Whether its two years, four years or thirtytwo years like myself. One of the benefits we as a country give our veterans is eligibility for a va loan for up to 100 of your homes value. So if you need money for your family, call newday usa. With automatic authority from the va, we can say yes when banks say no. Call 18338446708. Please sir. There must be something you can do. Son. My father is going. My brothers too. Id rather die than stay. Son, you cant. Your hearts not strong enough. My heart is as strong as any. You have to let me go. Uncover the lost chapters of your Family History with ancestry. Get started for free at ancestry. Com i have heart disease, watch what i eat, take statins, but still struggle to lower my ldl bad cholesterol. Which means a heart attack or stroke. Could strike without warning, pulling me away from everything that matters most. siren because with high bad cholesterol, my risk of a heart attack or stroke is real. Repatha® plus a statin seriously lowers bad cholesterol by 63 . And significantly drops my risk of having a heart attack or stroke. Do not take repatha® if you are allergic to it. Repatha® can cause serious allergic reactions. Signs include trouble breathing or swallowing, or swelling of the face. Most common side effects include runny nose, sore throat, common cold symptoms, flu or flulike symptoms back pain, high blood sugar, and redness, pain, or bruising at the injection site. I wont let a heart attack or stroke come between me and everything i love. Neither should you. Tell your doctor to lower your ldl and reduce your risk with repatha®. Pay no more than 5 per month with the repatha® copay card. Sandra bill hemmer covering a lot of ground in his interview with bill barr including his relationship to the president. I didnt know him before. I had only met with him really substantive discussion with him at the time he decided to appoint me attorney general. I think we have a good candid relationship. Bill one more question on that. You met with him in the oval office . No, in the residence. Bill and that went well . Yeah. Bill did he hire you on the spot . The reason i ask you that democrats have charged you are the president s attorney now. They dont know what theyre talking about. Sandra great interview in el salvador with bill hemmer and the attorney general. The first since he has been in this role and a good candid relationship is how he describes his relationship with the president. Jon you get the impression the attorney general is his own man. He is not particularly beholding to those members of congress who accuse him of all kinds of things and well sandra a whole lot more from that interview coming up. Jon meantime californias high speed rail project on hold now. The Trump Administration withdrawing nearly a billion dollars saying the state failed to comply with the terms of the grant. The host of making money with Charles Payne, Charles Payne himself is here. Its a nice way of saying bait and switch. This plan was approved because it would connect two major cities. Instead of this 520 mile high speed train it switched to 150 miles. It was going ton san francisco, instead its bakersfield, fresno and it just the administration is saying listen, you guys are grappling. You made on offer, asked for the money. It wasnt going to be enough. Instead of giving the money back you want to apply it to a different project. Thats not what was agreed upon. Jon how many of these big Infrastructure Projects like that just go on and on an overspend. According to the American Society of engineers we get a d minus on our infrastructure. We have trillions of dollars of projects that have immediate need right now. These vanity projects. Its ridiculous for any local government to try to get these done when you have some real emergencies out there. Sandra chicago, becoming the first major city to collect what is being called the netflix tax. More taxes for the city of chicago. Yeah, on anything streaming entertainment. So they call it the netflix thing. Sony paid 1. 2 million. Even fan dangle had to cough up catch. The cities that overpromise that have all these issues and promises. They welcome everyone with open arms and they have gigantic issues and major problems and try to nickel and dime businesses with them. Its another one of the schemes that it is not going to help their issues. Sandra sony, fan dangle and raked in 2 million from doing that and now going after dont pick on them. It is a symptom of the large cities that are drowning in debt, grappling for anything. Sandra great stuff on the town hall. It was a lot of fun. Jon a new controversy over College Admissions, the s. A. T. S will now have socalled adversity scores built in. Could it help or hinder your childs chances of getting into a firstchoice school in the c. E. O. Of the College Board the group behind that decision joins us next hour. Life doesnt give you an adversity score. Not something we use in practice anywhere else in our society. It sends a message to our young people if youre in a Certain Group youll act in a certain way and you should be treated a certain way. Oh no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Only pay for what you need. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Its not the highlight of fatherhood. But id rather be here with my little man than anywhere with migraine. I am here. And i aim to say that more. Aimovig. A preventive treatment for migraine in adults. Reduces the number of monthly migraine days. For some, that number can be cut in half or more. The most common side effects are pain, redness or swelling at the injection site and constipation. Aim to be there more. Talk to your doctor about aimovig. You need to place yourself in the moment. You need confidence in the appliances you select to build the home and life you love. Shop topbrand appliances at sears, including kenmore. Sears, making moments matter. You need to place yourself in the moment. You need confidence in the appliances you select to build the home and life you love. Shop topbrand appliances at sears, including kenmore. Sears, making moments matter. Jon an alarming announcement from ron desantis. He revealed Russian Hackers managed to hack into the election rolls of two of the states counties in 2016. Now a fight to reveal which two counties those are. Were live in miami with that. Remember the russian attacking and attempting to hack into floridas election system first was confirmed in the Mueller Report. The f. B. I. Yesterday briefed all 27 members of floridas congressional delegation about the two counties where the hacking actually did occur by the russians in 2016. Floridas politicians had to sign nondisclosure agreements first to get briefed as did the governor that they would not share the names of the two counties hacked nor the other counties where russian phishing attempts were made. Many on both sides of the aisle have a big problem with. The florida voter has the right to know. The f. B. I. Could declassify the information which it may or may not do. But Florida Republican matt gaetz told us he was not only livid about this but a bipartisan bill is being introduced in the house to make sharing of foreign intrusions of election system mandatory and public for all camps, local, state and federal. The f. B. I. s argument is that they are not going to share information because supervisors of elections were victims and thus deserving of protection of their identity. Thats crazy. The victim here is not some government official. The victim is the voter. The victim is the American Election system. The f. B. I. And department of Homeland Security say in the hacking attempts there were no vote totals that were impacted and no race outcomes winner and loser affected by the hacking but some voter data was obtained. Sandra now to a fox news alert. An exclusive interview attorney general bill barr talking to our own bill hemmer in a wide ranging interview. Up next why the a. G. Says he understands President Trumps frustration with the russia saga. Live to bill hemmer where he spoke with the attorney general next. And unrivaled network to work. The United States Postal Service makes more ecommerce deliveries to homes than anyone else in the country. Billions of problems. Sore gums . Bleeding gums . Painful flossing . Theres a therabreath for you. Therabreath healthy gums oral rinse fights gingivitis and plaque and prevents gum disease for 24 hours. So you can. Breathe easy, theres therabreath at walmart. How far you travel is up to you. How comfortable you travel is up to us. Fly emirates. Fly better. How comfortable you travel is up to us. You should know about the home, and need cash . Newday va home loan for veterans. The newday va loan lets you refinance your mortgages, consolidate your credit card debt, put cash in the bank and lower your payments over 600 dollars a month. It lets you borrow up to 100 percent of your homes value. Not just 80 percent like other loans. And that can mean a lot more money for you and your family. So call newday usa. They look at your whole financial picture, not just your credit score. And theyll do everything they possibly can to get you approved. Call today. And get the financial peace of mind every veteran deserves. At newday usa veterans can buy a home with no down payment. At newday, your service is your down payment bill when you took this job did you think democrats would make you the target . Yes. I thought i was in a position where this kind of criticism really wouldnt bother me very much. Bill what about the charges of contempt that has already passed in committee that may go to the floor of the householding you in contempt . Part of the usual political circus that is being played out. It doesnt surprise me. Bill do you feel threatened . No, i dont feel threatened. Bill live in san salvador. A Television Exclusive with the attorney general bill barr. We came down here with the attorney general to explore what he is doing with the crackdown on ms13. We had 20 minutes together yesterday afternoon in a prison 30 minutes west of the capital city and where we conducted our interview. We talked about the crackdown on ms13 and the democratic criticism aimed at him and we talked about a roadmap for what he is doing on his own internal investigation dating back to july of 2016 and the january of 2017 and perhaps even earlier than that. Good morning, everybody on a friday. Im bill hemmer live here. My coanchor and colleagues in new york sandra smith and jon scott. Good morning to you. Sandra the setting a hot jail in el salvador for the interview. Great stuff throughout the morning. A lot more coming up, bill, thank you. Bill barr saying he believes the white house fully cooperated with the special counsels investigation and that he can understand why the president is so frustrated with all of the aftermath. Back to you now, bill, for the next part of this big interview as we await more. Bill yes, sandra, he talked a lot about nancy pelosi. He talked about bob mueller, his relationship with him. His relationship with donald trump. What he thinks about james comey today. Ill get all that in a moment here. But remember what the president s position has been from the beginning. Called it a hoax, a witch hunt. I asked the attorney general about that. Mueller decided not to force the issue with the president so he made that judgment. And i did say the white house cooperated. What i was referring to there was the truly unprecedented delivery of information in the form of millions of pages of documents and the ability to Interview White House staff including the president S White House counsel with no holds barred. No privileged claimed at that point or anything. So that was unprecedented and thats what i was referring to when i said the white house. Bill did you find it satisfactory on behalf of the white house . Its more than satisfactory. Bob mueller felt it was bill the president calls it a witch hunt and hoax. Do you agree with that . If you were the president you would view it as a witch hunt at the hoax because at the time he was saying he was innocent and that he was being falsely accused. And if youre falsely accused, you would think that something was a witch hunt. I have to say when you step back and look at this, 2 1 2 years of this administration, three years of Trump Campaign and first part of his administration he has been hammered for something for allegedly conspiring with the russians. We now know that was simply false. Bill are you comfortable using those words witch hunt, hoax . I use what words i use and it was an investigation. But i think if i had been falsely accused i would be comfortable saying it was a witch hunt. Bill you mentioned bob mueller a few moments ago. Were you surprised that he came back with no recommendation on that obstruction charged . Yes, it surprised me because the function of a prosecutor is to make a call one way or the other. Bill did you ask him why . We discussed it. Bill what did he say . I already have said we met on march 5 before he delivered the report and he gave an explanation for it and it is pretty much reflected in the report. Bill you are okay with him testifying . Absolutely. Bill he works for you. Or under you. Yes. Bill or did. What seems to be the holdup . Jerry nadler said this week it will happen soon, perhaps it happens in june or not. Do you have any information on that . My understanding is that chairman nadler is talking this over with bob mueller and his staff and trying to schedule it. Bill so you expect it to happen. I have no reason to think it wont. Bill do you believe members of muellers team around him put pressure on him to include certain aspects in that report . I dont want to speculate because i just dont know. Bill do you believe he gave in to that pressure . I dont want to speculate. I wasnt there to watch the interaction of his staff. Bill a lot of this now a bit of context with regard to the mueller stuff. A piece in the wall street journal just this morning that went online last night about the holdup with bob muellers testimony in the house. There could be executive privilege matters that would prevent bob mueller from answering a lot of these questions. There is a debate as to when this happens. Some are making the case it could be pushed off even further. I think the first part of that answer, though, a little better context as well. Democrats have been leveling heavy charges against bob mueller saying he is protecting the president and spinning here because he said the white house fully cooperated with investigation. There was no sitdown interview. Only a question and answer only in writing, the focus of the president s attorneys for a years time did not want the president to sit down fearing a perjury trap on behalf of those on the special counsel. A little more context on that. Now we move into more criticism on behalf of democrats. You remember nancy pelosi calls him out as a liar for his testimony on the hill back in april and the first and second of may. Now just this week it happens that bill barr and nancy pelosi saw each other on capitol hill. Lets go back to this exchange and starting with the House Speaker. Bill lets move further into that aspect of this because you are being heavily criticized by democrats, by the House Speaker nancy pelosi. She believes he lied under oath. What do you think of that charge . I think its a laughable charge and i think its largely being made to try to discredit me partly because they may be concerned about the outcome of a review of what happened during the election. Bill what does that mean . That means they may be trying to undermine my credibility, but obviously you can look at the face of my testimony and see on its face there is nothing inaccurate about it. Bill you reportedly had a conversation with her this week. Yes. Bill what did you say to her . I wouldnt call it a conversation. It was more like an ice breaker. I was introduced and asked if she had brought her handcuffs with her. I didnt quite here what she said. She wasnt unpleasant about it. Bill what she will say and democrats will say is that you were spinning on behalf of the president with the principle conclusions you released. They leveled charges you held back the Mueller Report for several weeks. Were you spinning for the white house to buy time . No, i wasnt. What they really are perhaps annoyed about is they didnt have an opportunity to spin and the fundamental findings of the report were out there for everybody to see. And they were not in a position to spin. Bill a few more headlines. No problem with bob mueller testifying. He describes their relationship. Were still friends. With regard to his relationship with the president. A good relationship, a good, candid relationship and then you have the issue of james comey who just this week sandra and jon said that bill barr has lost his soul. When i asked him about that specific comment he said those people are not concerned about my legacy and so it goes. More coming up in a moment here from san salvador. Sandra thank you. Well see you again shortly. Lets bring if Chris Wallace anchor of fox news sunday. Good morning to you. Im sure youve been watching this interview throughout the morning. What is your takeaway so far . As somebody who does interviews for a living, when you watch somebody else do interviews you always say well gee, i would have asked or what about . I think that brother hemmer did a hell of a job and squeezed the sponge dry getting everything that bill barr was prepared to say. And what really comes across to me most of all is that for two years donald trump sat there and said i dont have an attorney general. I dont have somebody out there looking for an protecting my interests. He clearly has that now with bill barr. Not saying that barr isnt right in everything he says. But he clearly is protecting this president and advocating his point of view on a lot of these issues. I suspect that as President Trump who probably has watched some of this interview himself is saying finally no jeff sessions, bill barr instead. Sandra i want to watch this clip with you, chris, on bill barr answering the question about accusations that he lied and the situation with Charlie Crist and crist von holl en. Here is the attorney general. Bill when they question your testimony with Charlie Crist in florida and Chris Van Hollen. Is that upfront . Up front and completely accurate. Bill you said i dont know whether bob mueller supported my conclusion. That question that he asked me was about my conclusions along with Rod Rosenstein that there had been no obstruction and he was asking whether bob mueller agreed with those conclusions and i dont know. Bill in your view there was no con try dick shun. One was bob muellers conclusion and one was my conclusion. Its why we have lawyers. They can sit there and parse language and cut it up into fine pieces. I think what critics would say is you were being asked both by in the house by Charlie Crist and in the senate by Chris Van Hollen whether you knew the mueller team was satisfied what you said. He took a very lawyerly and precise approach. It was only afterwards we found out that mueller had called him the day after he issued his conclusions and said he wasnt happy with it. So look, you know, im not a lawyer, bill barr is a very accomplished lawyers. He can make a case. Other lawyers who would say whether he lied or not he certainly was not forthcoming to either crist or van hollen when he answered their questions about what he new about muellers opinion. Sandra more on that interview in a moment. Want to ask you about 2020 here, chris, when we look at the latest polling on the nominee preference for democrats joe biden topping the list. Searching ahead a double digit lead over Bernie Sanders, joe biden pulling 35 , Bernie Sanders 17 , Elizabeth Warren, Kamala Harris and Pete Buttigieg in Single Digits. You dont make too much of it. Joe biden has a lot of support inside the party from more moderate and establishment people from for instance who credit him for his service with barack obama for eight years as Vice President. On the other hand this race isnt even begun. Lets see joe biden appear on the debate stage with nine other candidates at the end of june. And see how he does. Thats going to be the real test. How does he stand up . He has not been a successful president ial campaigner in the past both in his first run in 1988 and then again against barack obama in 2008. Maybe it will be different in 2020. Well have to see how he does and when he is challenged. Two issues, one his age and how he stands up and whether he looks like he is ready and able to take on the challenges of being president and secondly he will get hit a lot on his long record. A lot of the positions he has taken on things like the crime bill and abortion and busing and anita hill. Its a solid early lead as you say, expanded early lead when when he first got into the race. A lot of it is based on name recognition. He will have to earn the lead on the campaign trail. Sandra Pete Buttigieg the town hall Chris Wallace 7 00 p. M. Sunday night. Looking forward to that. You bet. Well be talking he is one of the more interesting characters in this whole race. Started at 0 in the polls. Now as you can see in the latest poll either running third or fourth. If he were elected he would be the youngest mayor and openly gay mayor, a rhodes scholar, afghanistan veteran. He is smart and has interesting things to say about issue and the structure of our campaign process. Well talk to him with the good people of clairemont, New Hampshire on sunday. I want to say this. I have a feeling this will appeal to you, sandra, you can watch this entire town hall and then switch for the finale of game of thrones. You wont miss a minute. There is talk about having an iron throne for him to sit on in the town hall in clairemont. Sandra these things are important, chris. Were looking forward to it 7 00 sunday night town hall, Pete Buttigieg. Thank you. Jon chris will be breathing fire. Attorney general barr defending himself against his critics as he vows to look into how the Mueller Probe began. Chris swecker joins us on that, next. When you take align, you have the support of a probiotic and the gastroenterologists who developed it. Align helps to soothe your occasional digestive upsets, 24 7 with a strain of bacteria you cant get anywhere else. You could say align puts the pro in probiotic. So, where you go, the pro goes. Go with align, the pros in digestive health. And try align gummies, with prebiotics and probiotics to help support digestive health. We see two travelers so at a comfort innal with a glow around them, so people watching will be like, wow, maybe ill glow too if i book direct at choicehotels. Com. Who glows . Just say, badda book. Badda boom. Book now at choicehotels. Com jon President Trumps Emergency Declaration to use unappropriated funds for his border wall is facing its first legal hurdles. Lawyers for 20 states and organizations like the aclu are asking a federal judge in california to block the Walls Construction as thousands of migrants continue to cross the border illegally. William la jeunesse is live in california. William. Jon, the cornerstone of the wall is money. Take that out and the plan crumbles. Thats important. This fence is scheduled to be replaced. Thats mexico, the city has grown a great deal. Apprehensions are up 163 . People can jump this fence. Its 30 years old. Six feet tall. They disappear into that this area. Thats night they made an apprehension of a convicted child molester. They want an 18 foot fence to replace it. 19 states are trying to stop it today if federal court. It argues the president s Emergency Declaration is illegal because it bypasss the normal appropriations process after congress explicitly rejected his demand for more wall money. If the judge, an obama appointee, agrees to cut it off the access to 6 billion in pentagon money could be cut off. Either side will appeal. An injunction could stop the construction. Something the president predicted could happen. President trump ill sign the final papers as soon as i get into the oval office and well have a National Emergency and we will then be sued and they will sue us in the ninth circuit even though it shouldnt be there and we will possibly get a bad ruling and then well get another bad ruling and then well end up in the Supreme Court and hopefully well get a fair shake and well win in the Supreme Court. To avoid future funding fights the president propose aide Permanent Fund to pay for Border Security improvements but fees assessed to imports and exports and cars and everyone going through the border to be sciend. Asylum seekers i said too many are making frivolous claims and wants them to stay south of the border. That hearing begins in oakland. The Border Patrol has begun sending migrants out of texas to florida for processing because things are so overwhelmed in texas. Back to you. Jon tremendous numbers. Sandra dangerous storms set to hit parts of the country where the weather could be very tough this weekend. Jon the general general bill barr defending himself against his critics as we promises to get to the bottom of how the Mueller Probe began. That supports your Natural Sleep cycle so you can seize the morning. Zzzquil pure zzzs. Its a revolution in sleep. The sleep number 360 smart bed is on sale now during our memorial day sale. It senses your movement, and automatically adjusts to keep you both comfortable. It even helps with this. So you wake up ready to hit the ground running. Only at a sleep number store. During the memorial day sale, save 1000 on the new queen sleep number 360 special Edition Smart bed, now only 1,799. Only for a limited time. Sleep number. Proven, quality sleep. Taking care of your family and home takes a lot of money. The mortgage, the bills, credit cards, home improvements. It all takes cash. Getting that cash is just a phone call away. Call newday usa. The newday usa 100 va loan lets you take out an average of 54,000 dollars to pay debts or put in the bank and it lowers your payments over 600 dollars a month. And because newday usa has been granted automatic authority by the va they can close your loan in 30 days or less. They even do all the va paperwork for you. Helping veterans get the financial peace of mind they deserve. Thats what newday usa is all about. At newday usa veterans can buy a home with no down payment. At newday, your service is your down payment. Bknnu6z . 1pyp96u d mno kidding. Rd. But moving your internet and tv . Thats easy. Easy . easy . Easy. Because now xfinity lets you transfer your Service Online in just about a minute with a few simple steps. Really . Really. That was easy. Yup. Plus, with twohour appointment windows, its all on your schedule. Awesome. Now all you have to do is move. That thing. [ sigh ] introducing an easier way to move with xfinity. Its just another way were working to make your life simple, easy, awesome. Go to xfinity. Com moving to get started. Sandra a wall of storms threatening in 18 states now with powerful thunderstorms and attorneys this weekend. It could impact most of the midwest and southwest. Forecasters saying some areas out west may see up to five inches of rain, which is unusual for this time of year. James comey has a lot to say about you. He recently said you have lost your reputation. What do you think of him . Ive noticed the talking point. Barrs legacy is being upset because of his service in this administration. I dont think those people are really concerned about my legacy. Jon responding to criticism from james comey as barr reviews the origins of the russia probe which began on comeys watch. Chris swecker is a former assistant director of the f. B. I. And joining us now. You heard some of what the attorney general told our bill hemmer. What do you think about the probes that are underway, multiple probes into the origins of the russia investigation . First i think bill barr has the knowledge and skills and experience and he has a pretty hard bark on him to withstand all the criticism. He is not worried about what people are saying about him and he is making some hard decisions and calls that need to be made. We know there are some red flags up there. How the dossier was used in the fisa application, whether the investigation that took a wellpredicated investigation on russian interference into a president ial campaign was appropriately based on factual information and sufficient to justify opening the investigation. We know there were extensive leaking. When you leak you have an agenda. The question is did some of the investigators especially at the executive level have some type of political agenda . I think its entirely appropriate to look into it. He picked the right guy in john durham and the Inspector General. I have a feeling well actually get to the bottom of the thing. Jon what the attorney general says what he is looking for. I think people have to find out what the government was doing during that period. If were worried about foreign influence for the very same reason we should be worried about whether government officials abused their power and put their thumb on the scale. And so im not saying that happened, but im saying we have to look at that. Jon the f. B. I. Has tremendous power and the attorney general wants to know whether the f. B. I. Or maybe some other agencies were trying to steer the election one way or the other. Sure. Electronic surveillance, fisa, even criminal surveillance using electronic means is the most intrusive technique they have in the tool box. It has been entrusted to the f. B. I. And other agencies. If they can do that to a Political Campaign, what can they do to an ordinary citizen . Its entirely appropriate to look into it. In terms of factual information that reaches a threshold to open an investigation is an important part of this puzzle but also the fisa process itself being truthful in fisa affidavits. Being full some in terms of the information thats in there. You have to disclose information that might contradict the information you provided, use of paid informants and how theyre used and the information is used is critical. Whats important here is ive said this earlier, is to make sure that we know what happened so we can make some reforms if we need to. We can shore up some processes. And if mistakes were made or things were done deliberately we can make sure it will never happen again. Jon Chris Swecker who spent a long career rising to its assistant director, thanks for your insights today. Sandra saudi arabia calling for surgical strikes on iran as the u. S. Boosts its military in the persian gulf. Jon President Trump proposes a shift to a meritbased immigration system. But the plan faces an uphill battle in congress. Some are saying its dead on arrival. Well get reaction from senator Marsha Blackburn next. President trump together well create an immigration system to make america safer and stronger and greater than ever before. Sandra saudi arabia blaming iran for a drone attack that knocked out a key oil pipeline in the kingdom. A state aligned saudi newspaper calling on the u. S. To launch surgical strikes in retaliation. With tensions already high between washington and tehran. Jennifer griffin is live from the pentagon this morning. Good morning, jennifer. Irans foreign minister ruled out direct talks with the u. S. But the head of the Security Committee is calling for u. S. And tehran to hold direct negotiations amidst rising tensions blaming and Unnamed Third Party trying to stoke a war between the u. S. And iran. A veiled reference to saudi arabia whose leaders blame tehran for a drone attack that knocked out an oil pipeline. The attack against the two pumping stations proves that these militias are merely a tool that irans regime uses to implement its expansionist agenda in the region. A newspaper close to the saudi palace called for the u. S. To carry out surgical strikes on iran. Adding tension to the standoff, u. S. Defense official efs confirmed the u. S. S. Abraham clinton strike group is carrying a large number of tomahawk missiles in the arabian sea. The next step should be surgical strikes. The u. S. Set a precedent and had a telling effect. The trump strikes on syria when the assad regime used seron gas against its people. The u. S. Pulled out of the iran deal a year ago and the current oil embargo that china has shown a willingness to break. The escalation by the United States is unacceptable and uncalled for. We exercise maximum restraint in spite of the fact the United States withdrew from the iran deal last may. We remain committed to that. The pentagon hasnt declassified the satellite images they say show Iranian Missile cargo that led to the buildup of u. S. Forces. Sandra Jennifer Griffin at the pentagon this morning. Thanks. President trump my plan expedites relief for legitimate Asylum Seekers by screening out the meritless claims. If you have a proclaim, you will quickly be admitted. If you dont, you will promptly be returned home. Jon thats President Trump talking about changes he wants to see to the nations immigration laws to overhaul the system and give preference to englishspeaking, skilled and welleducated applicants. His proposal is catching heat from both parties. Lets bring in Senate Judiciary Committee Member Marsha Blackburn. At first look what do you think . I applaud him for putting something on the table and just as i applaud senator graham who chairs our committee for bringing forward a bill that will address some of the things that the Border Patrol wants to see done. You know, jon, one of the things we have to realize is this is one of the hottest topics and most talked about topics with all of our citizens. As im across tennessee, it is issue number one. Second thing they talk about is how great the economy is. But here is the thing. Until we secure that southern border and end all the trafficking of drugs and human beings and gangs and the sex trafficking, until we do that, every town is a border town and every state is a border state. And as we have talked with Law Enforcement officers from our communities this week, during National Police week, one of the things they have mentioned to us is the impact the negative impact on our communities that the open border on the southern border is having. Jon the president talked about that and says that its part the reform of the laws is part of the effort just as important really as building the wall. Listen to this. President trump as we close the gaps in our physical framework, we must also close the gaps in our legal framework. Critical to ending the border crisis is removing all incentives for smuggling women and children. Jon the word is out in Central America if you show up at the u. S. Border with a child in tow theyll let you in. That seems crazy. Well, it is so inappropriate and thats why we are tightening those restrictions around Asylum Seekers and allowing that to be filed in their home countries. Likewise, im introducing legislation and working on an information sharing provision between d. H. S. And h. H. S. So that we are certain that health and Human Services and Homeland Security know the identities of these traffickers and know if they truly are related to a child and who that child is being turned over to in the u. S. And what their identity is. Many times these people are not in the country legally. And the last thing we want to do is to see a child turned over to a labor gang or a sex gang or into an ms13 gang. And jon, protecting these children is paramount. Thats why senator graham is so spot on when he says lets change these rules around asylum. And it is why the president is so spot on when he said whether its Border Patrol or Immigration Services or ice, what we have to do is listen to them and then take action on what they are saying. They have to have done to secure our southern border. Jon lets hope that both houses of congress and the white house can come together on some kind of plan to fix the problem. Because it is clearly out of control at the southern border. We have to say goodbye. Senator Marsha Blackburn. We appreciate it. Sandra maybe youve heard about it by now. A big change is coming to the s. A. T. S, how the College Board is planning to take a students background into account. Plus attorney general barr defending himself after democrats accused him of acting as the president s personal lawyer. Bill how would you describe your relationship with President Trump . I would say its a good relationship. He is a very engaged president. Play it cool and escape heartburn fast with new tums chewy bites cooling sensation. Tum tum tum tums with new tums chewy bites cooling sensation. There is wisdom in how nature protects and it inspired an allnew toothpaste from burts bees®. It fights cavities and freshens breath. Made with ingredients you can trust. For a smile thats a true force of nature. New burts bees® toothpaste. Sandra the s. A. T. S are getting an update. The College Board saying its adding an adversity score to level the Playing Field with admissions. Reflects a students social and economic background among other things. You have said it is not an adversity score. Thats not what the College Board is calling it. Thats what the media is calling it. What is it . General background information. Let me give you a sense. Lets take a young woman from mississippi, a College Partner that were working with looked at her score. On average was about the same as other applicants for the college. She is a young woman in a rural school and then they looked at the context. How did that s. A. T. Score compare to other students in the school. And she was 400 points higher. They then saw her neighborhood Nothing Specific about no individual data is used. The neighborhood and school doesnt have advanced opportunities. Sandra her score was 400 points higher. How did you determine that . Than other students s. A. T. School at her high school. Sandra got it. How does that play into you adding to her overall s. A. T. Score . Im sorry for the conclusion. Im saying colleges get a context. We dont change the s. A. T. Score. It is not a new score. Sandra there is no new score based on the socioeconomic background. Its a general context to look at scores. If you look at a test score alone but dont know she was 400 points higher than her peers you might miss her resourcefulness. Only when you look at a score in context can you see that despite growing up in a more poor neighborhood with less resources she has done so well. Sandra there could be cases like that all over the country where a student had to work much harder, we understand that. You are calling it the environmental context dashboard. You are saying in addition to the s. A. T. Scored, the standardized test score, that female student has youll provide the context of her high school and the town in which she lives. Perfectly. Sandra how much does it influence the College Admission process . They are looking for those students that distinguished themselves. Sadly adversity is widespread. All the kids at the schools have the same ranking and all the kids from the school and town will have the same measure. When you look at her its her performance on the s. A. T. And in that context. Sandra have you thought about the unintended consequences of Something Like this . We have to. The unintended consequences in not doing is not seen. Sandra what unintended consequence could there be . How long do you have to live in that town to take the test and have the context provided to the college . Several rules were putting in place to monitor the kind of ways people try to take advantage. Ill tell you that overwhelmingly in this country a lot of poor and low income people live in the same place for a very long period of time. Achievements are not witnessed as clearly as other students and so if you look at Rural America where there is not a lot of transients, for example. Sandra youll be challenged a lot on the fairness of this. Surely you take into account 15 different measures that calculate into a student. That cover all the adversity a student faces. You may not know what someone goes through on a daily basis. That is not being provided. That person might live in a very rich town with a very High Level Public School system. You are so right and thats room for the essay. High schools submit profiles to colleges to tell them about themselves. Colleges are looking for students who overcome challenges. We allow a way if a student doesnt talk about it in the essay. For a cancer survival sandra the article talked about a score being provided to the colleges that then the student never sees. So thats not the case youre saying. Its a general context for viewing the individual s. A. T. Score. Sandra where is it implemented today . 50 colleges in a pilot used it to look at student results and it will be used more widely if colleges find it useful. Sandra why not do away with the s. A. T. Lets talk about the girl in mississippi who did so well. We see her because she achieves so much and she accomplished something amazing. More amazing in context when you see it relative to the students around her and the neighborhood. Sandra i have to ask you about the College Cheating scandal. It all plays into the fairness debate that is happening with the College Admissions process. What is fair . I want to get the College Boards response to what were seeing there and potential changes down the road. Parents . This is the biggest concern starting from a toddler all the way through grade school and up where my kid is going to go to college. Its one of the biggest stresses. So what is the environment today . A couple of quick things on the cheating scandal weve tracked down. We should stop and prosecute cheating and were working with the federal government to do that. About the broader issue you raise, the stress and unproductive stress in familys lives we have to take steps to stop the madness, calm things down in College Admissions. One thing were trying to do with the new tool is to say to families who grew up with less and given a lot less in this world that they, too, have a shot. All were trying to say if you distinguish yourself by performing well in demanding circumstances we see you. Sandra interesting. Youve sparked quite a debate with this. Im sure it wont end anytime soon. Thank you for your time this morning. Jon attorney general bill barr responds to criticism from democrats and special counsel as to how he summarized the Mueller Report. Also accusations that he has run interference for President Trump. Thats one of the reasons i felt i might be in a position to help in that i thought i was in a position where this kind of criticism really wouldnt bother me very much. Call newday. Home values are rising, and with newdays va cash out home loan, you can borrow up to 100 percent of your homes increased value. You could get 54,000 dollars or more and lower your payments by over 600 a month. With automatic authority from the va, newday can say yes when banks say no. Take advantage of your homes increased value. Call newday usa now. Go to newdayusa. Com or call 18004056714 mno kidding. Rd. But moving your internet and tv . Thats easy. Easy . easy . Easy. Because now xfinity lets you transfer your Service Online in just about a minute with a few simple steps. Really . Really. That was easy. Yup. Plus, with twohour appointment windows, its all on your schedule. Awesome. Now all you have to do is move. That thing. [ sigh ] introducing an easier way to move with xfinity. Its just another way were working to make your life simple, easy, awesome. Go to xfinity. Com moving to get started. The latest inisnt just a store. Ty its a save more with a new kind of Wireless Network store. Its a look what your wifi can do now store. A get your questions answered by awesome experts store. Its a now theres one store that connects your life like never before store. The xfinity store is here. And its simple, easy, awesome. Bill were live before we close out the broadcast, want to bring you a little more of our interview with bill barr as he talks about he has known bob mueller for a very long time. Lets go to that right now. Bill when did you speak with him last, correspond with them . It was i think the thursday after he delivered his report when we had a telephone call. But there is no bill that has been several weeks. Its not because of any strain between us or anything. Bill your relationship goes back 30 years. How is it today . I havent had the opportunity to spend much time with him since he took on the assignment. I havent spent time with him since he took on the assignment. I would say were still friends. Bill another topic here on his relationship with the president. There has been a lot of criticism from democrats saying he is doing the president s work. We asked about that as well. Bill the reason i ask you that democrats have charged that youre the president s attorney now. They dont know what theyre talking about. Bill did you think thater eric holder was the attorney for president obama . I think at times he did act that way but attorney generals are frequently accused of that. Bill like Bobby Kennedy and jfk . Attorneys general are accused of being that way. I dont know what theyre referring to. When i was up for confirmation i promised that i was going to make the report available. I didnt have to. The report was supposed to be confidential. I said i would err on the side of transparency. I got it out. Minimal transactions, every american read it and make up their mind about it. Bill on a similar note a lot of viewers have been corresponding with us throughout the last three hours asking for the full interview. It is available now on my podcast hemmer time on fox news radio, our website. Its on fox news. Com and posted already. You can listen to the full 20 minutes about ms13 and the crackdown, more on the mueller matter. About things dont hang together. The context for a lot of this investigation goes back to valentines day of this year. He is sworn in and starts asking questions and the answers he gets do not make sense to him and thats when he launches the investigation as to where we are now with the appointment of special prosecutor who has been on the job for several weeks. Its all happening now. Will it take some time . Certainly. Will democrats stay on bill barr as a target . No question as we move into june well see what happens on the floor of the house and democratic leadership there. Sandra a lot of great stuff there. A lot of reaction. Well continue to pour into that interview today. The Trump Administration bringing out a tool that highlights social media accounts and political bias. Is that a good move . That story in our next hour. Jon fox news alert, hearing underway right now is a chicago judge was whether to assign a special prosecutor to investigate the handling of the Jussie Smollett case. This after the attorney dropped all charges against the actor in march. A grand jury indicted smollett in connection with an alleged attack police say he staged against himself. An appellate judge later filed a petition requesting a special prosecutor, to take a fresh look at the case. We are keeping an eye on the hearing and we will bring you details as we get them. Sandra the newsroom vault taking us back to 1792 when the New York Stock Exchange was founded, 227 years ago today. 24 brokers and merchants signing the buttonwood agreement, under a buttonwood tree on wall street. In the beginning, only five securities traded in new york city. The first listed company being the bank of new york. What a day that was and what a history that has been. Jon we dont have video of it. [laughter] sandra hey, great stuff from bill hemmer in el salvador today. We wish him a safe trip back. Watch the town hall with Pete Buttigieg and Chris Wallace this saturday. Thanks, jon. Outnumbered starts right now. Harris fox news alert, we begin with the reaction to an exclusive interview with a change in her william barr sitting down with fox news for his first interview since joining the Trump Administration. The ag revealing new details in his investigation into the origins of the russia probe, and much more. As President Trump issues a warning to those who he accuses of targeting his 2016 campaign. A lot to get to on this fine friday. Glad youre with us. This is outnumbered, im harris faulkner. Here today, town hall editor and fox news contributor, katie pavlich. Fox news contributor, lisa boothe. Fox news contributor, jessica tarlov. The center seat, editor in